Improvement in drying apparatus



l E. Y. ROBBINS.

Drying Apparatus.

vMmmm my 19, 1864.

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Diarree STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD Y. ROBBINS, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO INM. PENN vNIKON, OFSAME PLACE. i

IMPROVEMENT lN DRYING APPARATUS.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 13,603, dated July 19,186i.

I T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD YOUNG RoB- BINs,ot the city ot Cincinnati,countyof Hamilton, and State of Ohio, have invented a new and ImprovedDrying Apparatus; and I do hereby declare that the following is a fulland exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in attaching to a drying chamber acondenser, made of sheetiiron or other thin materialof good conductingqualities, which condenser, being exposed on its exterior surface to theaction ot' the external air or other cooling agent or agents, condensesthe moisture which the warm or heated air carries up from the clothes orother articles to be dried and allows it to run into a vessel or drainpipe below,and thus renders the same air capable, when returned to thebottom of the drying-chamber, ot' taking up another load of moisture, sothat the same air may be used over and over again, thus preventing thenecessity of admitting within the drying-chamber other air,'whch isoften filled with soot, smoke, or other dirt which would soil ordiscolor the clothes or other articles being dried, while the steam fromthe clothes, &c., being condensed is carried ott' in a liquid i'orm andnot permitted to wet the walls and ceiling.

The drying-chamber A may be constructed of any desired size and shape,with drawers, slides, or other device, D, Fig. 4, for sustaining thearticles to be dried, and it may be warmed by a iiuc or by steanipipcsor radiator B, 0r by any means most convenient. On one side of thedrying-chamber, and opening into it at top and bottom, I place acondenser, C, Figs. l and 3, made ot' sheet-iron or other thin materialof good conducting qualities, being a pipe or tlue, square or round, orof anyother desired shape, and ot' two, three, or four square feetsectional area, or more or less; or it may consist of several separatepipes or iiues of the above construction enlarging' or multiplying thesame in proportion to the size of the dryiUgcham'ber. This condenser isexposed to the cooling action ot' the external air by being placed nearan open window, or between two open windows, or by being placed entirelyout of doors, the two openings into the drying chamber at top andbottom, O and O', Figs. l and 2, being built through the wall of thehouseI W, Fig. 1, the wall ot the drying-chamber being in this case alsothe wall of the house. The area of these openings or spaces ofcommunication between the drying-chamber and the condenser O and O',Figs. 1 and 2, may be enlarged or reduced, as may be found mostconvenient. The air in the lower part of the drying-chamber becomingheated or warmed rises up among the clothes, (or whatever may be inprocess of drying,) carrying up the moisture from them, passes over intothe condenser at the upper opening, O, Figs. 1 and 2, and the moistureis condensed and runs out through an orifice at d, Fig. l, while the airitself, being thus relieved of its superabundant moisture, ilows againinto the drying-chamber through the lower opening, O, Figs. l and 2, andis again heated and ascends, to carry up another load of moisture, andthus it continues to circulate round and round. rI`he superiorityclaimed for this over other drying apparatuses consists in this,that'others dry by change of air, involving a certain amount ofdiscoloration which the smoke, sont, or other dirt brought in contactwith the clothes or other articles being dried by the air in itsconstant current through the drying-chamber must necessarily produce,while in this apparatus, on the contrary, the moisture being condensedand the same air used over and over again, no new air, and consequentlyno smoke or dirt, need be introduced, but the drying-chamber andcondenser may be made airtight and yet allow the drying process to go onrapidly, at the same time preserving the walls and ceiling of the housefrom the el'ects ot' steam, which in other apparatuses is allowed toescape from the drying-chamber. Further, its superiority over otherapparatuses is claimed in this, that it dries more rapidly than others.Other apparatuses allowing the warm air to escape at the top, the upwardcurrent must overcome the inertia of the body of air above it in orderto eft'ect its escape, and thus the rapidity ot' its upward tlow isretarded, while in this apparatus the upward flow ot' the heated air,instead of being retarded by having to overcome the inertia of the bodyot' air above, is accelerated by the falling column of cooled air in thecondenser and is hurried chamber as above described or any other aroutof the drying-chamber to fill the vacuum rangement substantially thesame, and which which it is the constant tendency of the de will producethe intended effect.

scent of the cooled air to create. EDWARD YOUNG ROBBINS.

What I claim as my invention,1 and desire to Witnesses secure by LettersPatent, is- J. R. HUNTER,

The application of a condenser to at drying- W. L. ALDRICH.

